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Electronic Theses and Dissertations
2014
War in the Countryside: Re-examining Life in the
Netherlands during World War II through the
Memories of Dutch Immigrants to Ontario
Adam Roffel
University of Windsor
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War in the Countryside: Re-examining Life in the
Netherlands during World War II through the
Memories of Dutch Immigrants to Ontario
By
Adam Roffel
A Major Research Paper
Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
through the Department of History
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Arts
at the University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
2014
© 2014 Adam Roffel
War in the Countryside: Re-examining Life in the Netherlands during
World War II through the Memories of Dutch Immigrants to Ontario
by
Adam Roffel
APPROVED BY:
______________________________________________
R. Nelson
History
______________________________________________
M. Wright, Advisor
History
April 23, 2014
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this major research paper and that no
part of this major research paper has been published or submitted for publication.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my major research paper does not
infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas,
techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in
my major research paper, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance
with the standard referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included
copyrighted material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the
Canada Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the
copyright owner(s) to include such material(s) in my major research paper and have
included copies of such copyright clearances to my appendix.
I declare that this is a true copy of my major research paper, including any final
revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that
this major research paper has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other
University or Institution.
iii
ABSTRACT
The History of the Netherlands during World War Two paints a one sided view of
what war was like. While urban life receives lots of attention in English literature, rural
life is often neglected. Through the stories of six individuals who immigrated to Canada
in the decade following World War Two, a separate wartime experience will be examined
and discussed.
iv
DEDICATION
I dedicate this paper to my amazingly supportive wife Alyssa, and my two boys Logan
and Lochlan. Also to my parents and siblings for all the support they have given me over
the years.
This is also in memory of my grandparents, Arie Van Eyk, Mable Roffel, and John
Roffel.
v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper would not have happened if not for the help of my advisor, Dr. Miriam
Wright. I also am deeply grateful to those who volunteered to help with my study:
Frances Van Eyk, Henk VanGiessen, Peter Flikweert, Anne Groenenberg, William Van
Welly, and Alan Hoekstra.
I also want to thank Dr. Frans Schryer, professor at the University of Guelph, for his
helpful insight and early opinions on my work, as well as Dr. Rob Nelson who provided
some last minute advice as my second reader.
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration of Originality
iii
Abstract
iv
Dedication
v
Acknowledgements
vi
Introduction
1
Historiography
4
Popular Literature
5
Academic Literature
9
Methodology
15
Memory and History
15
Subjects and Procedures
18
The Rural Experience
23
Food Consumption
23
The Relative Lack of Disease in Rural Areas
27
The Lack of Black Market Involvement
30
Few Rural Dutch Men taken to Germany
32
Lack of Hostility Towards the Germans
34
Why Canada
36
Conclusion
39
Appendices
42
Appendix A: Interview Questions
42
References/Bibliography
44
Vita Auctoris
47
vii
1
Introduction
World War Two is remembered as a horrific event in world history with millions
of people dead, and millions left to rebuild their lives without family or businesses. For
those in Europe, where much of the fighting took place, it was especially significant.
Their actual experiences, however, varied considerably, depending on the country or
region. For the Dutch, the liberation of their country by Canadian troops in 1945 was an
important moment, as they had just endured five long years of Nazi occupation, resulting
in the deaths of thousands of citizens, bombed-out cities, flooded farmland, and lack of
basic living necessities. While many Canadians today are aware of the role Canada
played in the liberation of the Netherlands, knowledge of how that country experienced
the war is limited. University of Toronto Professor Henry G. Schogt wrote in his 2003
book, The Curtain: Witness and Memory in Wartime Holland, “Yet apart from the
liberation itself, the enthusiastic reception of the Canadians by the Dutch, and the
desolate state of the Netherlands at the moment, little is known in Canada about what
happened during the war.”1 While this comment may apply to the population at large,
there is a fair amount of literature on the subject. However, that literature is selective,
focusing primarily on those who lived in the large cities where they experienced the
harshest realities of war. Urban citizens dealt with more hardships such as extreme
hunger, repressive curfew laws, and contagious diseases than those in rural areas. These
problems were magnified during a period of severe hunger in the Netherlands from
1
Henry G. Schogt, The Curtain: Witness and Memory in Wartime Holland (Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier
University Press, 2003), x.
2
September 1944 till liberation in May 1945, known as the Hongerwinter (Hunger
Winter), and it receives that majority of written attention.
As a result of that focus on the extreme hardships of occupied Netherlands, the
experiences of urban citizens are widely perceived as the norm. This leaves a one-sided
story of how the Dutch lived under Nazi occupation, a story which continues to be told
again and again in schools, universities, and in popular literature. While not downplaying
the horrors of life in the Netherlands during World War Two, it is important to highlight
different experiences, besides those of the residents of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht,
or The Hague. These four cities were the largest in the Netherlands in 1940, coming
from some of the most populated provinces. Amsterdam in Northern Holland, Rotterdam
and The Hague in Southern Holland, and Utrecht in the province of Utrecht had a
population of 4.365 million, almost half of the Netherlands estimated 9 million
inhabitants.2 What is missing from the narratives are the experiences of rural inhabitants
of the Netherlands, tens of thousands of whom emigrated to Canada in the decade
following World War Two.
Those living outside the major city centers represented a large portion of the
Dutch population, and also contributed to the war effort in various ways. Published
personal experiences such as Dancing in Bomb Shelters: My Diary of Holland in World
War Two by Johanna Wycoff reveal the importance of farmers and small villages in
providing food as well as shelter and protection. 3 That food, shelter and protection
2
B.R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics : Europe, 1750-2005 (New York, New York: Palgrave
Mcmillian, 2007), 231.
3
Johanna Wycoff, Dancing in Bomb Shelters: My Diary of Holland in World War Two (Bloomington,
Indiana: iUniverse Publishing, 2010).
3
helped sustain and save those who may have otherwise perished. What follows is an
examination of a specific group of individuals, Dutch farmers children and young adults
from the provinces of Friesland in the north, Overijssel in the east, and Zeeland in the
south, who were all between the ages of six and fifteen at the start of the war. These
individuals eventually made their way to Canada in the decade following the end of
World War Two under a special program intended to bring Dutch farmers to the country.
This paper will focus on six Dutch immigrants to Southern and Southwestern Ontario,
and the ways their experiences differ from wider perceptions and portrayals of occupied
Netherlands. It will also provide insights into the experiences of thousands of Dutch
immigrants who came to Canada in such large numbers after the war.
On the whole, the experiences of the people interviewed for this project differed
from those who lived in the cities in several ways. Food was easily available in rural
areas since communities were smaller and were often populated with farmers. Having
enough food to eat also contributed to a healthier community. While disease ravaged
western cities, it was much less common in smaller, rural areas. Farming had other
advantages as German army officials relied on local Dutch farmers to get food for their
troops; armies did need to eat after all. For this reason, farming families were generally
left alone, only being called upon to house German soldiers or Dutch men the Germans
had brought from the cities to rural areas to work. Furthermore, Germans were less likely
to forcibly remove young men from rural Dutch families to work in German factories, as
they did with urban and larger town dwellers. This perhaps affected how the rural Dutch
felt about Germans; those interviewed for this project did not express much disdain or
hatred towards them. Finally, the black market did not seem to be as prevalent in the
4
rural areas of the Netherlands as it was in the urban space, partially because the need for
contraband was not as great. Those within walking distance of cities had the best
opportunity to participate in the black market, but that would only include a small
percentage of individuals. Those who lent their stories to this project have provided
insight into the greater diversity of the way people experienced the war, particularly those
in the rural occupied areas of the Netherlands.
Historiography
For such a small country, the Netherlands during World War Two has received a
great deal of popular and scholarly attention. Much of the literature in English has been
published memoirs. The most well-known account of life in the Netherlands during this
period is the diary of Anne Frank, later published with the title, The Diary of a Young
Girl. 4 Another example is Henri Van Der Zee’s book titled, The Hunger Winter:
Occupied Holland 1944-1945. In his introduction, Van Der Zee, who was a young boy
during the war, gave a succinct reason for writing a book on the most difficult year of the
war for many inhabitants: “I certainly have not written this book to stir up ill-feelings or
old hatreds. I feel strongly, however, that we should never forget the consequences of a
detestable system and an inhumane regime.”5 These two accounts reveal the dramatic
stories of hardship and inhumanity, and much of the published literature on the
Netherlands during the war, both popular and academic, explores these themes.
4
Anne Frank, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Garden City, NJ: Doubleday Publishing, 1952).
Henri Van Der Zee, Occupied Holland: The Hunger Winter 1944-1945 (Nebraska: University of
Nebraska Press 1998), 16.
5
5
Popular Literature
The most well-known popular work on life in the Netherlands during the war is
Anne Frank’s diary which has been published in numerous countries, translated into fiftyfive languages and has even slipped into popular culture through films and plays. 6 Anne
Frank’s tales are gripping and horrific, but her experience was very specific – not only
that of a city dweller, living in Amsterdam, but also as a member of a Jewish family in
hiding from the Nazis. The problem with something as popular as Frank’s diary is that it
became the blueprint for life in an occupied city, or even more broadly, life in the
Netherlands. This is not to say Anne Frank’s diary has no value, as it is an excellent
perspective on how a young Jewish girl coped with living in hiding in the Netherlands. It
is not, however, representative of how everyone in the Netherlands experienced the war.
The exceptional accounts like Frank’s showing danger and suspense attract more readers.
Historical novelist Martina Reilly wrote an article for an independent Irish
newspaper titled, “What Makes an Ordinary Life so Compelling to Read?” In the article
she brings up the example of Anne Frank, saying her story is compelling because Anne
represents “innocence in the face of evil.” 7 It represents the encounter between Nazis and
their victims, personalizing and individualizing a much larger phenomenon. Often, the
experiences of a specific person are more compelling than the experiences of a group.
People can connect to individual stories more than they can to groups where details of the
individuals are often absent.
6
Hedda Rosner Kopf, Understanding Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, Westport, CT, 1997), xi.
7
Martina Reilly, “What Makes an Ordinary Life so Compelling to Read?” February 5, 2013. The Irish
Independent
<http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/what-makes-an-ordinary-life-so-compelling-to-read29049727.html>
6
Many other memoirs dedicated to particular subjects have also been written, and
recently published books tend to portray World War Two through the eyes of children.
One example is Jan De Groot’s compelling story of his life in the Netherlands during the
war years. De Groot, who was born in The Hague in 1932, writes in great detail how he
and his mother were forced to run when his father was taken by the Germans. De Groot’s
story is not unique; it was common for the Germans to perform raids on homes and
business in the Netherlands’ largest cities to find replacement workers for the German
men who left for the war.8 A story about a child and his mother fleeing the Nazis reveals
the dangers of the time, making it interesting to many readers. Much like the story of
Anne Frank, De Groot’s story is an example of “innocence in the face of evil.” 9
Another book that has garnered a lot of attention is Kristen Den Hartog’s, The
Occupied Garden: A Family Memoir of War-Torn Holland10. Unlike the authors of most
other memoirs, Den Hartog was from a farming family. And unlike most farmers, they
did experience hardship and ended up losing their home, their sense of freedom, and their
financial security. What distinguishes their experience, however, is that their farm was
close to The Hague, a major urban centre. Being close to cities was challenging as
people who lived there were much more likely to be targets of German soldiers looking
for men to send to work in Germany. Farmers in this community would also have had to
deal with a much larger demand for their goods from urban citizens making treks out to
8
De Groot, Jan. A Boy in War (Winlaw, BC: Sono Nis Press, 2008).
Reilly, “What Makes an Ordinary Life so Compelling.”
10
Kristin Den Hartog, The Occupied Garden: A Family Memoir of War-Torn Holland (Toronto, ON:
McClelland and Stewart, 2009).
9
7
the farms. 11 This provided an opportunity for involvement in the black market, which
ended up hurting these farmers as the government cracked down on this after the war.12
Although compelling to read, the story is not representative of the average family in rural
Netherlands during the war.
One of the most well-known popular accounts of the war is Henri Van Der Zee’s
The Hunger Winter: Occupied Holland 1944-1945.
Van Der Zee recounts his
experiences as a young boy of ten, and adds to his personal story a well researched look
at those greatly affected by the famine. Although he never states where he lived during
the Hunger Winter, it is clear his stories are based in Amsterdam. Van Der Zee’s book
paints an excellent image of life in the big city during World War Two. He recalled,
“The lack of transportation, gas and electricity had created an atmosphere of deadly
apathy which covered the whole of western Holland like a thick, grey blanket.” 13 Van
Der Zee recalls people saying that the “good Lord” had become pro-Nazi, to inflict such a
terrible trial on the people of the Netherlands. 14 Van Der Zee provides numerous
examples of poor living conditions in Amsterdam during the Hunger Winter which had a
devastating effect on thousands of Dutch families.
The lack of food and fuel in the major cities of the Netherlands, such as
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utecht, led to desperation among the people. Van Der Zee
remembers one incident when “The contents of an accidentally spilled bin for the central
11
Den Hartog, The Occupied Garden: A Family Memoir of War-Torn Holland.
Inteview with William Van Wely, August 2, 2013.
13
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 68.
14
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 69.
12
8
kitchen were scraped off the streets with spoons, and nobody bothered about hygiene.” 15
He later recalls how citizens would rip the wood off the tramlines in order to heat their
homes since fuel became impossible to find near the end of the war.16 Bathing was a low
priority as well, although it was most likely caused by the lack of soap. The small, one
room living quarters in which most Dutch families in the urban areas lived were hotbeds
for contagious bacteria. Dutch housewives were given rationed soap supplements, but
most found the supplement so useless that they gave up on cleaning altogether. This
meant that dishes were used over and over again, beds were slept in again and again, and
children were rarely cleaned.17
Van Der Zee suggests that farmers did not experience the same hardships as those
in the cities. Indeed, he claimed farmers helped his family in a time of need, as detailed
in his chapter title, “Out to the Farms.” He remembers city people would get some relief
by making visits to the countryside, where decent meals and places to sleep were often
willingly offered.18
Reminiscences of war events such as the liberation of the Netherlands by the
Canadians, often documented in liberation anniversary books, are also widely popular.
The Dutch, both in the Netherlands and in the diaspora, still observe the anniversary of
liberation. Special illustrated “coffee-table books” commemorating specific years have
been published. One example is Holland and the Canadians: Liberation of Holland 50th
Anniversary Commemorative Edition, compiled by Major Norman and J. Nikerk Phillips,
15
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 147.
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 164.
17
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 153.
18
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 72-77.
16
9
which can be found on bookshelves in many Dutch-Canadians’ homes.19 The continuing
Dutch gratitude to the Canadians is recognized in the various stories of heroism included
in these collections. Many stories that found their way into these books and magazines
were excerpts from personal memoirs; often, the more horrific stories of war and
liberation were highlighted.
These memoirs are sometimes published for mass
consumption, or are just meant to satisfy family curiosity.
Academic Literature
The academic books and articles focus on a few major aspects of life in
the Netherlands, namely the Hunger Winter and the resistance movement. An in-depth
look at the resistance movement can be found in Resistance in Western Europe, a
collection featuring articles about resistance movements in different parts of Nazioccupied Europe. Dick van Galen Last’s article on the Netherlands paid particular
attention to how resistors in the Netherlands worked like a well-oiled machine. 20 Another
important book is Mark Zuehlke’s, On to Victory: The Canadian Liberation of the
Netherlands.21 Historians such Zuehlke write for an academic audience, but tend to place
their emphasis on city life rather than rural.
For Zuehlke, liberation was most
prominently seen and appreciated in the cities, and therefore his focus lies there.
19
Major Norman and J Nikerk Phillips, Holland and the Canadians: Liberation of Holland 50th
Anniversary Commemorative Edition (Brampton, Ontario: Dutch-Canadian Bi-Weekly Publishing, 1995).
20
Dick van Galen Last, “The Netherlands,” in Bob Moore, ed. Resistance in Western Europe. (New York:
Berg Pubishing 2000), 189-222.
21
Mark Zuelke, On to Victory: The Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands, March 23-May 5 1945
(Vancouver, BC: Douglas and McIntyre, 2010).
10
Most academic English literature on the Netherlands during World War Two
focuses on the experience as a whole, as well as living conditions, the Hunger Winter and
disease. Everyday life during occupation in urban areas has been extensively covered by
authors such as Warner Warmbrunn and W.F. De Gaay Fortman.
Fortman, writing
immediately after the war ended, looks at the impact of occupation on the Dutch.22 He
claimed German legislation at the beginning of occupation pushed the Dutch cost of
living to record heights; by September of 1941, the cost of living had risen 28%, and the
cost of food alone rose 43%. 23 Warmbrunn’s account of occupation came almost a
decade after the war ended. He examines the impact of German occupation on Dutch
civilians, looking at the cost of living, food supply, and demographic issues. His focus is
clearly on showing the hardship and direct impact that occupation had on the population,
but pays particular attention to urban dwellers. 24
A number of academic works focus especially on the Hunger Winter. Nicky Hart
may have compiled the most specific work on the impact of the Hunger Winter in his
2003 article titled, “Maternal Nutrition, and Infant Mortality: A Re-examination of the
Dutch Hunger Winter.”25 Hart focused on the impact of the Dutch government order
railway strike on the Netherlands. While most popular accounts of the Hunger Winter,
such as Van Der Zee’s book, focus on the effects on individuals and families, Hart uses
statistics and evidence to determine what the Hunger Winter cost the Netherlands in
22
Wilhelm Friedrich de Gaay Fortman, “Living Standards,” Annals of American Academy of Political and
Social Science 245 (1946).
23
de Gaay Fortman, “Living Standards,” 81.
24
Werner Warmbrunn, The Dutch Under German Occupation, 1940-1945 (Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press, 1963).
25
Nicky Hart, “Famine, Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality: A Re-examination of
the Dutch Hunger Winter,” Population Studies 47 (1993).
11
terms of health, disease, and death. His work on maternal nutrition and infant mortality
draws upon earlier research such as Dr. Marc Daniels’ 1949 article on the Hunger Winter
and tuberculosis, and Geoffrey Edsall’s 1959 article on typhoid fever. 26 Other earlier
works on the health impact include M.J.L Dols and D.J.A.M van Arcken’s 1946 study of
the food supply and the level of nutrition in the Netherlands during the war. A 1947 study
by C. Banning and Henrietta A. Lohr examined child mortality rates due to disease and
malnutrition. 27 What articles such as these demonstrate is that city dwellers did suffer
significant hardship which had a direct impact on overall health.
Other scholars have looked at the aftermath of the war, and specifically
demographic pressure and economic issues that led thousands of citizens to emigrate to
countries around the world, including Canada. Dutch economists Aslan Zorlu and Joop
Hartog, who analyzed the depressed Dutch economy after the war, have estimated that
roughly 480,000 people emigrated out of Holland between 1946 and 1972. Those who
left were given help from the Dutch government as overpopulation was causing high
unemployment numbers.28 In 1947, Canada and the Netherlands agreed on a settlement
plan called the Family Farms Movement or the Canada Netherlands Settlement Scheme.
Anthony Sas claims that in the decade after the end of World War Two, roughly 110,000
26
27
Hart, “Famine, Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality,” 27-46.
.J.L. Dols and D.J.A.M van Arcken, “Food Supply and Nutrition in the Netherlands during and
Immediately after World War II,” The Millbank Memorial Fund Quarterly 24 (October 1946).
C. Banning and Henriette A. Lohr, “Occupied Holland,” The British Medical Journal 1 (1947).
28
Aslan Zorlu and Joop Hartog, “Migration and Immigration: The Case of the Netherlands,” Tinbergen
Institute Discussion Paper (2001), 7.
12
of these emigrants headed for Canada.29 The majority of those came between 1947-1952,
working in agricultural.
University of Guelph professor Frans Schryer published two books on the
Netherlandic people in Canada, with a special emphasis on Ontario, where the majority
of Dutch immigrants to Canada settled. His 1998 book, The Netherlandic Presence in
Ontario: Pillars, Class, and Dutch Ethnicity, examines the Dutch immigrants’ adaptation
to life in Ontario. In particular, he looks at their religious affiliation, business ventures,
and class structure. 30 His follow-up work published in 2006, Farming in a Global
Economy: A Case Study of Dutch Immigrant Farmers in Canada, went into more detail
than his previous book, explaining the expertise the Dutch brought to agro-business from
their rural roots in the Netherlands, and how it helped shaped and advance farming within
Canada.31
In The Netherlandic Presence, Schryer looks at the life Dutch immigrants made
for themselves in Ontario after immigrating to Canada. Approximately 35%, or 185,000
of the emigrants who left the Netherlands between 1946 and 1982 came to Ontario.32
They came in waves: first, the Dutch war brides in 1946, followed by farm hands in the
late ‘40s and early ‘50s, and then followed by skilled trades workers after 1952. 33
Schryer identifies four reasons why the Dutch left the Netherlands: the trauma of the war
29
Anthony Sas, “Dutch Concentrations in Rural Southwestern Ontario During the Postwar Decade.”
Annals of the Association of American Geographers 48 (1958), 185.
30
Frans Schryer, The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario: Pillars, Class, and Dutch Ethnicity (Waterloo,
Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Unviersity Press, 1998).
31
Frans Schryer, Farming in a Global Economy: A Case Study of Immigrant Farmers in Canada (Leiden,
South Holland: Brill Publishing, 2006).
32
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario, 46.
33
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario, 42.
13
and what followed it, concerns about increased socialism in the Netherlands, the desire to
leave because they saw other community and family members go, and the lack of
adequate land, which meant that many younger rural couples decided to leave the country
to start farming on their own, rather than waiting to inherit the family farm in the
Netherlands. 34 The last reason is why many farmers left the Netherlands, a claim
adequately defended by Schryer and further verified by those who partook in this study.
When the Germans flooded the south, hundreds of acres of farmland were destroyed,
leaving many displaced farmers without enough land for their growing families. For
many people from these southern provinces, Canada offered a very real opportunity for
success.
Schyrer notes that the Dutch who came to Ontario had a higher degree of
education compared to other immigrants, and were not forced into urban communities to
find waged work.35 Instead, they used their agricultural expertise to make a living. After
the war brides came to Canada directly after the war the immigrants continued to come in
waves, with the next post-World War Two wave heading to Canada to work as farm
hands. Many of these same immigrants ended up purchasing large farms. Those who
came in the late 1950s to 1960s took up a range of trades.
Schryer dedicates a portion of his book to the “farm immigrants.” Canadian
farmers often got hardworking farm hands with plenty of experience, although on
occasion, they were tricked into accepting a hand with no prior training. 36 Many
immigrants moved from prosperous farms in Holland, to lowly farm hand employment in
34
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario, 48-52.
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presense in Ontario, 1-2.
36
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presense in Ontario, 57.
35
14
Ontario; it is no surprise, therefore, that so many Dutch immigrants worked towards
owning their own farms. 37
Schryer’s second book, Farming in a Global Economy, takes a closer look at the
Dutch in Canada, with a special emphasis on the Dutch farmers. He provides numerous
experiences, one of which was specific to Chatham, ON. Kerr Farms hired a Dutch
family to work in 1947, which led to subsequent families moving to Chatham; Kerr
Farms built a successful business on the willing work of Dutch immigrants. 38 Eventually,
the Dutch entrenched themselves in Canadian society, building Reformed or frequenting
established Catholic churches, and developing schools, which were Dutch in their makeup, but not in their name. A good example is Chatham Christian Schools, a Kindergarten
through grade 12 school still in operation in Chatham, Ontario. Similar schools and
churches exist in farming communities around Ontario, including London and the
Niagara region.
Schryer’s books provide the best discussion on Dutch immigration to Canada, and
more specifically, Southern Ontario. The information he provides places the research in
this paper into context. It shows the numerous reasons for why so many people left the
Netherlands after World War Two, and also how their life in the Netherlands impacted
how they settled and expanded in Canada.
37
38
Schryer, the Netherlandic Presense in Ontario, 58-59.
Frans Schryer, Farming in a Global Economy, 95-97.
15
Methodology
The aim of this paper is to examine the stories and memories of rural Dutch
people who later immigrated to Ontario, hoping that their stories will add a rural
dimension to our larger understanding of the war experience in the Netherlands. Dealing
with memories that are roughly seventy years old, however, poses a number of problems,
and calls into question the use of oral sources in history. Written sources, even ones that
date hundreds or thousands of years, are often seen as a more reliable source of
information than an individual’s memory.
While often contentious, oral history still has
a place in research today.
Memory and History
Memory as a theoretical approach is constantly being debated. Skepticism arises
because of the high number of outside influences that can, and will, affect memory. Age
is a main issue as the individual may have been too young to accurately remember events.
As well, at the time of interviewing or writing the individual could be too old and
suffering from memory loss. Another issue is whether or not bias plays a role in how the
past is remembered, or if current events have altered one’s understanding of the past.
With the subject being discussed here, do the viewpoints of Hitler and his regime cloud
or alter the memories of individuals who lived during that time, perhaps in an
exaggerated and unfair way? This is possible, and needs to be taken into consideration
while researching.
There are two streams of thought when dealing with memory and history.
Historians such as Pierre Nora and Maurice Halbwachs argue that history and memory
16
are two distinct categories. Maurice Halbwachs view of memory is incredibly narrow,
yet it appears to hold a lot of validity. Halbwachs, in his book, The Collective Memory,
dedicates an entire chapter to memory and history.
Although he makes numerous
claims, two stand out. First, he concludes that memory is confined to an individual’s
lifetime. The moment that person has passed, their memories disappear. Secondly,
Halbwachs argues that individuals cannot claim the memories of others as their own
personal memories. He writes, “Our memory truly rests not on learned history but on
lived history.”39
Pierre Nora, who has taken the ideas of Halbwachs and “reformulated them,” 40
argues that “memory is constantly on our lips because it no longer exists.” 41 It has
become history.
Nora argues for three types of memory: real memory, integrated
memory, and modern memory. Real memory, he believes, lived and died with ancient
and archaic societies.
Nora continues to argue that integrated memory “is memory
without a past that constantly recycles a heritage.”42 Modern memory, according to Nora,
is the memory that no longer exists, because it has ceased to be memory, and forever will
be considered history. The only memory we carry today is a brain full of mostly useless
facts, which one-day we may need to recall. 43 For these reasons, Nora’s view of history
and memory is embodied by hopelessness: history is, and always will be, incomplete,
39
Maurice Halbwasch, The Collective Memory (New York: Harper & Row Colophon Books, 1980), 57.
Patrick J. Geary, Phantoms of Remembrance: Memory and Oblivion at the End of the First Millennium
(New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996), 11.
41
Pierre Nora, ed., Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past (New York: Colombia
University Press, 1996), 1.
42
Nora, Realms of Memory, 2.
43
Nora, Realms of Memory, 8.
40
17
while memory relies on historical uncertainties and vague assumptions of the past,44 a
claim that is much too cynical to be taken seriously. After all, numerous histories that we
have today are based on memory, and many of them are universally accepted. The
overarching belief of Nora is that there must be a separation between memory and
history.
Other historians, such as Patrick Geary and David Thelen believe that memory
plays an integral role in how we create history. David Thelen, emeritus professor at the
University of Indiana, wrote in his 1989 paper titled “Memory and American History”
that memory and history run parallel to each other.
The memories of individuals
sometimes challenge conventional interpretation of events, and allow historians to pose
questions that may challenge the way we see history. For Thelen, the questions historians
can ask create a bridge over the gap that has been created between professional history
and the wider audience. 45 For example, those who lived through World War Two have
numerous memories of it, but that does not mean that they can connect with what
professional historians are writing. Asking questions that may challenge or alter our
understanding of the past helps connect those with memories to professional writers, who
in turn can rewrite or reinterpret the past.
Thelen argues memories have historical merit
for several reasons. First, memories are constructed, and are not constantly reproduced.
Thelen disagrees with the common perception that memories change drastically the more
they are recalled. He concedes that memory changes, but only within the context of the
present and what an individual has learned since the moment they are attempting to
44
45
Nora, Realms of Memory, 3.
David Thelen, “Memory and American History,” The Journal of American History 75 (1989): 1117.
18
recall. 46 Secondly, Thelen argues that memory is not created in “isolation but in
conversation with others that occur in the contexts of community, broader politics, and
social dynamics.”47 The second of his two arguments is what is most important to this
discussion. Dutch immigrants that went to Canada after World War Two ended up in a
few specific areas in Quebec, Ontario and the prairies. These communities held onto
their roots, especially when it came to religion and lifestyle. The stories from all the
volunteers in this study are interesting on their own, but do not provide a larger picture
unless they are all looked at together. When put together, it is possible to see how the
war is a large part of the collective memory of the Dutch immigrants, and this can be seen
in the way that the war had continued to be recognized as an important part of their past.
We see it in the way that Dutch Canadians still celebrate liberation by the Canadians.
They also take treks to Ottawa for the Tulip Festival48and many own commemorative
coffee table books related to the war experience. This collective memory also helps alter
the larger understanding of the different ways that people experienced the war in the
Netherlands.
Subjects and Procedure
Using subjects from south-western Ontario was not only a decision based on
personal preference, but also one that is historically relevant.
Both sets of my
grandparents emigrated from Holland to Canada after World War Two, and eventually
settled in Chatham-Kent. Chatham-Kent, London, and the Niagara area are heavily
46
Thelen, “Memory and American History,” 1120.
Thelen, “Memory and American History,” 1119.
48
Tulip bulbs are sent to Canada by the Netherlands in recognition of their support during the war.
47
19
populated with Dutch immigrants, owing to the rich farmland that attracted those coming
to Canada as part of the Canada-Netherlands farm scheme program. Anthony Sas found
that 25% of the people from the Netherlands who came to Ontario between 1944 and
1956 came to Chatham-Kent, Essex County, and Lambton County. 49 This was roughly
11,000 people.50 The large number of Dutch individuals still living in the Chatham-Kent
area and the existence of an active Dutch-Canadian community made it much easier to
attract potential interviewees.
To recruit participants, I posted flyers in areas where large numbers of elderly
Dutch people were likely to congregate, including churches and the local Dutch products
store in Chatham; however, most candidates heard about my project through
conversations with others. For myself, the tight Dutch community made this project
possible, and many individuals contacted me, willing to lend their stories to my project.
The Dutch community in Chatham-Kent is very extensive, and there is a strong sense of
pride about being Dutch. So much of what went on during the war, as well as their early
years in Canada, shaped who Dutch people continue to be: hard working individuals who
take pride in their heritage. Many Dutch immigrants, whether they participated in this
study or not, made a point of mentioning how they hoped some of their stories would be
chronicled in some way. For a few, this paper is their way.
All Dutch immigrants were invited to participate, so long as they were old enough
to remember life during World War Two. As most of the Dutch immigrants living in the
Chatham-Kent area came to Canada to work in agriculture, it should not be surprising
49
50
Sas, “Dutch Concentration in Rural Southwestern Ontario,” 185.
Sas, “Dutch Concentration in Rural Southwestern Ontario,” 186-187.
20
that all the people who participated in this project were living in rural areas of the
Netherlands during the war. Although all the subjects were from rural areas, a few found
themselves in the Netherlands’ largest cities at various points during the war, which made
their interviews valuable to the research. They provided insights into both rural and
urban experiences and noted the differences. It also helps give context to the experiences
of the rural dwellers who were affected by the war, although to a different extent.
I initially spoke to a number of people about this project, aiming to speak to
immigrants from different parts of the Netherlands. Although many volunteered, almost
half were either too young to remember the war very well, or too old and forgetful to be
of significant value to this project. In the end, six subjects met the right criteria, and were
old enough to be able to remember life during wartime. All the interviewees were
offered anonymity, but either did not care whether they were anonymous or not, or felt
that having their story told was important This was beneficial for me since the ability to
put a name to a story gives it a greater impact.
The people interviewed for this project were Frances van Eyk, Alan Hoekstra,
Ann Groenenberg, Henk Van Giessen, Peter Flikweert, and William Van Welly. Frances
van Eyk was born in 1934 in the province of Overijssel which borders Germany. Her
family made a living by mixed farming. She eventually moved to Ontario in 1951 where
her family continued to farm. Alan Hoekstra was born in 1935 in the northern province
of Friesland. His father was a dairy farmer who grew a few potatoes on the side. Alan
moved to Canada in 1954 where he spent many years working as a farm hand outside
Ottawa and in Chatham. Ann Groenenberg was born in 1926 in the eastern province of
Gelderland near the German border. Her family did various types of farming to make a
21
living. She was married in the Netherlands before coming to Canada in 1950 through a
sponsorship by the Vellinga family in Chatham. Her husband worked for five years as a
farm hand outside Hamilton before they purchased a farm in Ridgetown in 1955. Henk
Van Giessen was born in 1928 in a small town a few hours outside Rotterdam, in the
southern province of South Holland.
His father was a small scale farmer, growing
potatoes and vegetables. Van Giessen left the Netherlands in 1949. When United States
officials accused him of trying to avoid his compulsory military service in the Dutch
military, Van Giessen decided to come to Chatham, Ontario, despite the fact that his
fiancé was going to Iowa.51 Van Giessen and his wife were married within a year, and
his wife’s family followed her to Canada and purchased a farm outside London, Ontario.
Despite being sponsored by a farmer, Van Giessen avoided the rules of the CanadaNetherlands Settlement Scheme and worked as a welder instead. Peter Flikweert was
born in 1926 in the south-western province of Zeeland. His father was a farmer with
sixteen acres; he also had cows and pigs. Flikweert went to Toronto, Ontario, in 1954,
but moved to Wallaceburg shortly thereafter. Flikweert told me that “farming was never
in my heart” and went on to work as a janitor for Union Gas in Chatham. William Van
Wely was born in 1920 in central Holland, growing up on his father’s large scale farm
before attending an agricultural college near his home. In 1951 Van Wely moved to
Grimsby, Ontario, and ran a successful mill there for many years.
Each subject was interviewed for approximately an hour and questions were
broken down into a number of subcategories: life before Nazi occupation, life during
51
Van Giessen was accused of avoiding participating in the Indonesian War. Since he was the only
provider in his family, however, his mandatory participation was waved.
22
Nazi occupation, liberation, and immigration to Canada. The primary goal of these
questions was to determine quality of life. Interviewees were also asked about disease,
treatment by the Germans, and their opinion of the war. I concluded the interviews with
a short conversation about their reasons for going to Canada, and what life was like upon
arrival in a new country.
Initially, I was uncertain of what I would find and who I would get as
interviewees, and I did not ask specifically for subjects from either rural or urban areas of
the Netherlands.
However, as the process unfolded, I began to see a strong rural
connection in those who volunteered. I also noticed a difference in my subjects’ accounts
from what was often portrayed in literature on the Netherlands during World War Two.
The goal of the interviews was to get an idea of what everyday life was like for the
average Dutch citizen.
Questions were not just based on what I thought would be
interesting, but also on findings from the literature on the subject. While some things
were consistent with the popular narrative, many remarks also challenged it.
For many of the subjects, being from outside the major cities may have contributed to
their willingness to speak on the topic. Initially, I was worried, and warned by others that
war survivors will often refuse to talk about their experiences. The opposite, however,
proved to be true. All of the immigrants were very open to discussing their wartime
experiences, and I was never asked to skip questions. However, every individual who
interviewed for this project spent most of the war years in rural Netherlands which was
more removed from direct attacks and the harsher aspects of Nazi occupation. These
individuals did not deal with the harshest realities of war, and therefore may have been
more inclined to participate.
23
The Rural Experience
Food Consumption: Malnutrition in the Cities, Full Stomachs in the Country
Although the Hunger Winter dominated much of the literature in English on the
experience of civilians during the war, it was evident from my interviews that those in
rural areas rarely experienced severe food shortages and famine. Those interviewed for
this paper claimed they always had enough to eat. Anne Groenenberg recalled never
being hungry during the war because as farmers, food was always readily available. She
told me, “Personally I wasn’t a day hungry because we were into farming.” 52 She
claimed that even at the end of the war when the Germans blew up the dykes and she and
her family were forced to move into their barn because of the flooding, they still had
enough food.53 Frances Van Eyk, living on her father’s small farm in the eastern region
close to the German border, also claimed they had enough to keep from starving.
Potatoes, meat, and many vegetables were always plentiful. Van Eyk explained,
There was enough food for us and our family. Being a farmer, but we could
not get all kinds of food. We had coupons, food stamps, and we could get a little
bit of sugar, a little bit of salt. Sugar was really something we didn’t get very
much. A lot of people would make sugar from sugar beets. We did that too, but a
lot of people had to eat sugar beets, but we did not have to do that. My dad had
pigs. He would kill a pig, which was not allowed, but he would do it. We had our
own meat. Dad had chickens, so we had our own eggs. So we did not suffer
hunger at all.
Bending the rules and helping out those in need is something that most of the
interviewees mentioned.
Anne Groenenberg recalled a particularly humorous story.
When a group of German soldiers travelled through her town, they demanded cows from
52
53
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
24
a number of families. Since cows were not that rare, Groeneberg’s family purchased the
oldest cow they could and gave it to the Germans, and kept the healthy cows for
themselves. 54
Having plenty of food in the household made life considerably easier, especially
when those who lived in and around the large cities had a very hard time obtaining even
basic goods. For example, it was not uncommon for food to be traded for clothing or
other necessary items. Groenenberg remembered her father trading sixty pounds of beans
so that she could have new eye glasses. 55
Most of the individuals who were interviewed spoke extensively about doing their
best to help those in need during the war. Frances Van Eyk mentioned that her family’s
protestant Christian beliefs led them to do their best to share what they had. Van Eyk
recalls, “We had it good enough so that we could help other people. We had people, two
girls from Amsterdam, living with us for six weeks. So they would have food and stay
alive. Then when the six weeks were over, we would get another couple.” 56 Boarding
visitors from the cities for a period of time was common for farm families in the rural
areas. Alan Hoekstra, who grew up in the northern province of Friesland, said that he
understood that people were going hungry in the cities, but “we were too far away from
the big cities. Sometimes people came for food, we gave it to them, and they went home
only to lose it to the Germans.” 57
54
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
56
Interview with Frances Van Eyk, June 8, 2013.
57
Interview with Alan Hoekstra, July 8, 2013.
55
25
From the interviews, it was evident that many of those who lived outside the areas
that were most affected during the war understood that they were much more fortunate.
This is what drove so many to volunteer their homes and food to those who fled.
Understanding their own fortune meant they had at least an idea of what life was like in
the Netherland’s largest cities. Alan Hoekstra’s comment demonstrates an understanding
of what living in the city was probably like; those who lived in rural areas were not
oblivious to the food shortage in the cities. Henk Van Giessen explained that living in a
fairly isolated area between a few large rivers was a blessing. South Holland was known
for its extensive river networks. Since the majority of the people in his region were small
farmers, there was never a worry of hunger. He noted that his family had the “opposite
experience” from those living in the cities.58 Van Giessen did not, however, have a onesided view of life in the Netherlands during the war. He was able to see life in the city
first hand, as it was his job to deliver food to many of his extended family members in
Rotterdam. Van Giessen noted, “It was a blessing to not live in the big city during the
war…and each time I went I noticed a negative progression. Things were pretty quiet on
the streets, buildings were destroyed, and slowly things disappeared from the stores.” 59
Often, rural citizens were forced to house German soldiers or displaced Dutch
persons. For most farmers, however, they had no trouble feeding the extra people.
Flikweert remembers housing numerous Dutch men forced into work by the Germans
along the North Sea.60 Besides housing migrant workers, the Dutch were often forced to
house German soldiers, and on occasion, an officer or two. Henk Van Giessen explained
58
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July1 3, 2013.
60
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
59
26
that housing a German officer had numerous advantages. As it has been shown, farmers
never lacked food, but the food that was available was never anything special, just the
usual meat and potatoes. However, when Van Giessen’s parents housed a German
officer, the family received extra food. Van Giessen never said whether they received
this food from the authorities, or if the officer himself had connections which enabled
them to get better food. Either way, having this food highlights the rarity of luxury
goods, even in the countryside. 61 Better than average food helped rural citizens stay
healthy. As well, the less densely-populated rural areas meant the inhabitants were less
susceptible to contagious diseases which were a major problem in the cramped living
quarters that many urban Dutch families had to endure during the war.
Peter Flikweert lived both sides of the war experience, at least when it came to
food and water. Flikweert told me that lack of food was not really a problem for his
family before Zeeland was flooded. However, once his family was forced to different
areas of the Netherlands, food became much scarcer.62
Overall, despite difficulties at the very end of the war, all those interviewed had
enough food to survive. William Van Wely probably summed up the typical experience
for the Dutch farmer when he said, “It was people in the North that were still occupied.63
They were without food, and it was mostly in the big cities. In the farming areas, people
could always hide food. For farmers, it was not too bad. I would say some discomfort at
times, but not hunger.”64
61
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
63
Much of south was liberated prior to the Hunger Winter.
64
Interview with William Van Wely, August 2, 2013.
62
27
The Relative Lack of Disease in Rural Areas
All those interviewed expressed gratitude for having lived where they did during
World War Two. There was always food or at least, access to food. Although they were
aware of the situation in the cities, they lived a fairly comfortable life on their farms.
This is in contrast to the experiences in urban areas as described by Van Der Zee and
other popular authors.
Van Der Zee recalls a common joke amongst the Dutch citizens during the 194445 Hunger Winter. “The German children of 1918 are so grateful for the good food they
got in Holland that, in 1945, they give every Dutch child two slices of bread, half a sugar
beet and one potato a day.”65 This was the reality for Van Der Zee and thousands of
other people who were stranded in bombed out, disease- ridden cities. By early January
1945, bread rations had been cut from 1000 grams per day, per person to 500 grams, and
by February, people were averaging 350 calories per day. This was down from 460 only
a month before.66 Van Der Zee recalls the thoughts of a friend:
Somebody else remembered in particular the faces of the people, ‘sunken,
grey and without life’. He went on: ‘We have become paupers. We have no soap
and our clothes are worn out. We all look disheveled. Perhaps we believe that only
others look so old and that we’re not like them, decrepit little men with collars too
wide and sloppy, shiny suits…But one look in the mirror is sufficient. The poverty
and anxiety of the last years are imprinted on our faces…And we haven’t laughed
for ages.67
In 1946, immediately following the war, Dr. C Banning laid the groundwork for
the medical studies that would come in the late 1940s and 1950s. He compiled statistics
65
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 145.
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 147.
67
Van Der Zee, The Hunger Winter, 148.
66
28
on deaths in the Netherlands during the war. According to Banning, the lack of food in
the Netherlands caused an estimated 10,000 deaths, 2,300 of which were in Amsterdam
and 2000 in The Hague. Banning estimates that only 1,500 deaths due to malnutrition
occurred in the countryside, while 8,500 happened in cities. This is due mainly to the
availability of homegrown food on the farms in the east.68
Tuberculosis was one of the worst diseases that affected Dutch civilians. Dr.
Marc Daniels presented a paper in 1949 describing increasing rates of tuberculosis in
Europe during World War Two.
Amsterdam had a 208% increase in tuberculosis
diagnoses between 1939 and 1945.69 Nationwide, there was a 102% increase. 70 He cites
the Netherlands as a unique example. While most countries saw high tuberculosis rates
during the first few years of the war, Holland was hit with increasing rates in the final
year of the war, during the Hunger Winter.71
Another disease related to the Hunger Winter was typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is
highly prevalent in individuals who eat large amounts of contaminated food. 72 It is no
surprise then that this would be a problem during a time when good quality food and
clean water was scarce. By 1942 and 1943, the Netherlands was experiencing five times
more cases of typhoid fever than ever before. The rate was rising at an abnormal pace,
which was extremely alarming to the Dutch doctors. In 1939, there were a reported
twenty-five deaths from typhoid fever. In 1943, this number had risen to seventy-six.
68
C. Banning, “Food Shortage and Public Health, First Half of 1945.” Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 245 (May 1946), 99.
69
Dr. Marc Daniels, “Tuberculosis in Europe During and After the Second World War,” The British
Medical Journal 2 (1949), 1065.
70
C. Banning and Henriette A. Lohr, “Occupied Holland,” The British Medical Journal 1 (1947), 539.
71
Daniels, “Tuberculosis in Europe,” 1069.
72
Geoffrey Edsall, “Typhoid Fever,” The American Journal of Nursing 59 (1959), 990-991.
29
Unfortunately, data for the number of deaths in 1944 and 1945 are not present, although
in 1945 there were 4,848 cases of typhoid fever. Using statistics from 1945 as a basis, it
can be assumed that of 400 cases in 1943, seventy-six individuals died then it would not
be hard to imagine the death rate in the 1000’s for 1945.73
The leading causes of disease for the people of Holland, as documented by Dr.
Kamp, were a lack of quality food, gas, electricity, and fuel. Netherlanders relied heavily
on eating sugar beets and tulip bulbs, and lacked protein in their diets. The deplorable
living conditions resulted in poor diets, the leading cause of death among citizens.
These conditions were largely found in the cities, however, not rural areas. For
the van Eyk and Van Giessen families, having pork was a major advantage as it gave
them a source of protein. 74 In my project, not one interviewee mentioned poverty,
hunger, or disease, with the exception of Peter Flikweert. For the most part, they all
mentioned the availability of quality food, the ability to trade for necessities such as soap
and clothes, and the advantage of living in houses with yards.
In January of 1944, the Germans ordered that the province of Zeeland be flooded;
the residents were given advanced notice and told to leave. The Flikweert farm was in
the flood zone, which meant they had to leave. Flikweert’s family was split up. He went
to work for a famer while his sisters went to live in Rotterdam; while there, one of his
sisters contracted diphtheria, and was very sick for an extended period of time. However,
she was fortunate enough to get out of the city and move in with her parents in southern
73
J.G.G. Brost, “Occupied Holland: Resistance by the Medical Professionals,” The British Medical Journal
1(1947), 57-59.
74
Interview with Frances Van Eyk, June 8, 2013.
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
30
Holland, far away from the large city centers. Flikweert was the only study participant to
mention contracting a disease. After leaving the farm in Zeeland, uncontaminated food
became much harder to obtain, leaving him with hepatitis at the end of the war. 75
As they had been aware of famine, those living on the farms were also aware of
the rampant disease striking the cities. Flikweert felt the effects of disease directly, but
others knew of the problems as well. Groenenberg explained that near the end of the war,
she heard about all the deaths in Amsterdam. She heard that caskets were no longer
available so instead, bodies were covered in sheets and placed onto pieces of cardboard. 76
The Lack of Black Market Involvement
A few farmers made a lot of money during the war selling their goods on the
black market. For farmers living farther from urban areas, however, selling goods on the
black market did not seem to have been a common practice. Indeed, none of the people
who were interviewed for this paper claimed to have been involved in black market
trading. One of the main reasons is that there did not seem to be a market for contraband
goods within rural communities. Almost everyone had what they needed, or had excess
goods to trade for others. Therefore, only those close enough to larger cities and towns
could participate in the black market. Henk Van Giessen remembers that food prices
increased a little bit during the war, but he could not remember anyone he knew
personally who traded in the black market. 77 He remembers one woman who would
collect butter coupons to bring to people in Amsterdam, but it was later found out that she
75
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
77
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
76
31
had been selling them for profit. It was not common in his area. Like Van Giessen, Alan
Hoekstra, who lived in Friesland in the north of the country, thought there was not
enough demand to make a large profit where he lived. 78Many often avoided black market
involvement on religious grounds. For Frances Van Eyk, whose family was Protestant,
trading contraband was “against my father’s religious and moral values.” 79
Alan
Hoesktra’s father also saw the black market as unethical, but was not opposed to trading
to get the things his family needed. He would send Alan to the docks to trade butter
coupons for coal, since coal was scarce and the Hoekstras had animals to supply them
with what they needed. 80
While those interviewed for this study reported no black market activity, others
claim some farmers took advantage of desperate people.
In a published account,
Johanna Wycoff, who was a teenager living in the Netherland during World War One,
wrote in her diary that when they went to get food and clothes from farmers, the price
continued to climb. When money was no longer an option, the farmer and his family
began demanding jewelry and other items that often had sentimental value81 There does
not seem to be enough literature to determine whether black market involvement was
widespread in rural areas, but those who were interviewed for this paper claimed it was
not. What cannot be overlooked is the possibility that these are selective memories as
participating in the black market is still seen as dishonorable; very few would openly
admit to participating. Despite these concerns, black market involvement in and around
78
Interview with Alan Hoekstra, July 8, 2013.
Interview with Frances Van Eyk, June 8, 2013.
80
Interview with Alan Hoekstra, July 8 2013.
81
Wycoff, Dancing in Bomb Shelters, 10-11.
79
32
the largest cities in the Netherlands is discussed in both popular and academic literature
in great detail, while very little is ever said about involvement in the most rural of areas.
Few rural Dutch men taken to Germany
After the Netherlands surrendered in early 1940, Germany began forcibly taking
Dutch men between the ages of 18 and 45 to work in Germany to replace the German
men who were fighting in the war. Farmers were often exempt from being taken because
they provided Germany with a valuable commodity, food. In a memoir documenting his
experiences, Alard Ages expressed his fears of “Arbeitseinastz”, this practice of forced
labour. Ages was particularly worried about being sent away to Germany to work. Ages
remembers going to the office to ask for an exemption because of his enrollment in
university. He wrote,
I went to the Arbeitseinastz office in The Hague with the letter...There was a group
of men standing around, waiting for an interview. In all my innocence, I headed
straight for one of the tables, sat down and showed the letter to the man behind the
table…He marked my identification card (Persoonsbewijs in Dutch) with a stamp
exempting me from the Arbeitseinsatz and politely sent me on my way…For a
while this stamp proved invaluable when I had to pass roadblocks set up by the
German police to apprehend unsuspected passersby without an Ausweis (stamp)
and have them work in camps in Germany or elsewhere. 82
The benefit of being a student was similar to the benefits extended to farmers.
Peter Flikweert explained working in the food industry was an advantage because they
were already providing a service to the Germans and therefore it was counter-productive
to be sent away to Germany to work in factories. Flikweert told me, “I was outside
82
Alard Ages, Guarded by Angels: Memoir of a Dutch Youth in WW2 (Oxford, United Kingdom: Tafford
Publishing 2007), 62.
33
Rotterdam, and usually they didn’t come into that area. We had something going for us
because we grew food. I was working in the greenhouse.”83
Ironically, it was Flikweert
himself who ended up being the exception to this. He worked in a greenhouse just
outside Rotterdam, and had avoided earlier German roundups of Dutch workers.
However, as the war went on, and the Germans needed more labourers, they finally
entered the greenhouse where Flikweert was working. Flikweert recalled, “But the one
time they came outside anyways, outside the city. And they went between the rows of
tomatoes that grew up to the roof. We were laying between the rows. The soldiers came
down every row, and they would gather you out in the street and they would take you
away in groups.”84
William Van Wely also used farming to avoid being taken to serve in the Dutch
Army prior to their surrender. Van Wely’s father asked the Dutch government to delay
William’s entrance into the army so that he could help on the farm in the time of need.
By the time William would have been eligible to fight, the Netherlands had already
surrendered.85
Aside from Flikweert, who was taken to work in Germany, very few of the
interviewees remember losing friends, neighbors, or family members to the Germans.
Raids typically were focused on the larger city areas of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht,
and the Hague. It seemed that the only interest the Germans had with farmers was taking
their animals and crops, not their sons and husbands. Anne Groenenberg remembered
83
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
85
Interview with William Van Wely, August 2, 2013.
84
34
losing a cow to the Germans86 and Alan Hoekstra recalled having to bring the Germans a
shipment of hay once per year.87
Lack of Hostility Toward the Germans
Depending on their particular experiences during the war, citizens of the
Netherlands had different opinions of the Germans. Bob Moore examines two different
types of people, the resistors and the collaborators. 88 Collaborators often had economic
or political reasons to side with the Germans, while resistors worked to uphold the
Netherlands independence and freedom. Those that participated in this study seemed to
belong to a third group of people which Moore briefly describes as being indifferent
towards the Germans. They may have harbored internal disdain, but outwardly upheld a
veil of indifference. 89
Alan Hoekstra noted that his family did not feel the effects of the Hunger Winter
because they lived too far from the major cities. The relatively comfortable lifestyle of
those in rural areas may have contributed to a less hostile reaction to the Germans. Alan
remembered a number of German sympathizers who lived in his small village. While his
family did not agree, Hoekstra explained, “My family was not a sympathizer, but there
was no hard feeling towards those that did sympathize. We treated it as a difference of
opinion.” Hoekstra went on to explain that the Germans were rarely seen, and that day to
86
Interview with Anne Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
Interview with Alan Hoekstra, July 8, 2013.
88
Bob Moore, “Occupation, Collaboration and Resistance: Some Recent Publications on the Netherlands
during the Second World War,” European History Quarterly 21 (1991).
89
Moore, “Occupation, Collaboration and Resistance,” 109-118.
87
35
day life was not greatly affected, especially when it came to attending school. 90 Henk
Van Giessen shared similar stories.
Of the Germans, Henk said, “In general, the
Germans were good guys. We didn’t like them, but they were normal people like we
were.” A high ranking German officer who stayed with Van Giessen’s family was a
Christian, and close contact was kept with him throughout the war as there seemed to be
common ground founded on Christianity. 91 These two examples are not meant to dismiss
any hostility from rural citizens. However, from the small sample in this study, it seems
as if resentment of the Germans was situational, rather than something that carried on
throughout the war. Van Giessen, for example, remembers seeing a Dutch plane being
shot down near his home. When they ran to inspect the damage, they saw a Dutch soldier
with his face blown off, prompting Van Giessen to express that he was “very angry.” 92
Despite this situation however, Van Giessen explained his view of the Germans in this
way:
You know, the hatred that we had for Germans and I can’t call it hatred, but
it was still…if a game takes place, like a soccer game, I hope they beat the
Germans! On the other hand, I think the German people are a very intelligent and
industrial people. Today again you can see that, as they are the strength of
Europe.93
Peter Flikweert also had mixed opinions on the Germans. He conceded that living
during the war was not always that bad. However, he did feel that the Germans flooded
Zeeland out of spite, as there did not seem to be any military advantage to doing this.
When asked about how people felt about the Germans, Flikweert said, “We often ignored
90
Interview with Alan Hoekstra, July 8, 2013.
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
92
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
93
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
91
36
them. Often they did nothing to us, and we did nothing to them. I think because we were
in Eastern Holland, but outside the big city, that we didn’t deal with a lot of the hardships
that others dealt with.
We were not sympathizing.” He did note, however, that there
were a number of people who did want to side with the Germans, but aside from those
looking for the Germans’ favour, this seemed to be limited to older individuals who could
remember the Boer War and had little empathy for the British. 94
What the interviews have shown is that there seems to be a connection between
living in rural areas of the Netherlands and not having an outright hatred for the Germans.
Many of those interviewed for this project either lived near the German border, or spent
time housing German soldiers, and fostered connections with them. Many of the Dutch
that lived during the war will tell you that the German soldiers were not actually bad
people, but were a lot like themselves. Something can also be said for the passage of
time. World War Two has been over for many years, and as is common in many
situations, time can heal many wounds.
Why Canada?
The liberation of the Netherlands began in September of 1944, but attempts by
both the Americans and the British, along with a handful of Canadians, came up short. It
was not until May of 1945 that the First Canadian Army moved into the Netherlands and
entered the key cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam. The task of liberating
the Netherlands was never easy. One particular battle at Scheldt cost the First Canadian
94
Interview with Peter Flikweert, June 23, 2013.
37
Army almost 6,500 soldiers. However, this heroic feat by Canadian soldiers forged a
relationship that lasts to this day. 95
Dutch citizens are, and were, incredibly grateful for the sacrifice made by
Canadian soldiers. In thankfulness, the Dutch government still sends 20,000 tulip bulbs
to Ottawa every May, which has allowed the Canadian Government and the City of
Ottawa to put on an annual tulip festival. Thankfulness was also there in 1945, as is
shown in the following newspaper editorial.
When the Canadian soldiers left the
Netherlands, a young female editor read a letter she had written, but it was in Dutch,
which few of the Canadian soldiers would have understood. However, eight months
later, a translated version of this letter was printed in the Hamilton Spectator. She wrote,
You couldn’t understand…the sufferings which we had to bear during
five years, the suffering from which thousands of men, women, and children went
to rack and ruin…You didn’t know…the torment of the German occupation during
five years that was finished when you came…We are no more hungry, since we
started to eat your biscuits and now we eat tarts again…we have…food for our
children. That was your work.96
As has been noted earlier, Frans Schryer cited a number of reasons why many
Dutch citizens chose to immigrate to Canada, such as trauma after the war, the desire to
leave because friends and family left, increased socialism in the Netherlands, and a lack
of quality farm land for the Netherlands growing rural population. 97
The people
interviewed for this project went to Canada for many of these reasons. The main reason
for leaving, however, was the availability of land. Anne Groenenberg noted that one of
95
Peter Moogk, “The Netherlands and Canada: A Wartime Love Affair,” Canadian Journal of
Netherlandic Studies 27 (2006).
96
Anneke Klein Klouwenberg, “When They Asked Who Freed Us: A Moving Goodbye to Canadians from
a Dutch Editor Who Speaks from the Heart.” Hamilton Spectator, March 25, 1946.
97
Schryer, The Netherlandic Presence in Ontario, 48-52.
38
the reasons her family left was because of a lack of space, although she hinted at being
tricked into believing Canada was much better than it really was. Groenenberg said,
I was one of eight kids, and there wasn’t enough farms for everyone.
Canada wanted farm workers, and it was far away from the communists. You had
an idea that you would end up on a nice big farm on the prairies. It was a thing to
do. What else was there? Most of the people I know went to North America. The
war also played a part. There was no room! 98
Like Groenenberg, Frances van Eyk’s father also saw Canada as a chance at
getting his hands on good land; van Eyk mentioned that when they arrived in Canada,
they knew they had a good future and they “were not disappointed.” 99 Henk Van Giessen
remembers a friend who moved to Brandon, Manitoba, and heard a lot about Canada
through him. He told me, “Canadians were very much appreciated by the Dutch because
of their liberty, so I very strongly felt that I should go to Canada over other places. So
despite Jane being in the States, there was an appreciation for Canada and Canadians.
This was felt by many people.” Van Giessen’s wife’s family moved to the United States
instead of to Canada; however, after Van Giessen and his wife were married, her family
saw that in Canada “there was more land, better prices, and more opportunity” 100 and
moved to Canada themselves. This was a sentiment shared by many Dutch immigrants
when they decided on Canada as a possible destination.
98
Interview with Ann Groenenberg, June 11, 2013.
Interview with Frances Van Eyk, June 8, 2013.
100
Interview with Henk Van Giessen, July 13, 2013.
99
39
Conclusion
Although the wartime experiences of those who lived in the major cities of the
Netherlands are well known, this paper examined an alternative experience of war that
has been overlooked. Stories of these rural Dutch immigrants are in many ways ordinary,
yet they shed light on a war experience that needs to be examined. The popular historical
narrative on the Netherlands is that life was tough, food was scarce, and disease was
almost guaranteed. Yet, growing up and hearing the stories of Dutch immigrants in
Chatham-Kent, Ontario, a narrative that formed in my own mind was nothing like what
was written in textbooks and taught in high school and post- secondary institutions. I
heard about a war experience which was frightening, but not terrifying, and one that was
physically and mentally tough, but not deadly.
A number of things were made clear through the research and interviews. These
people lived in rural areas, often far away from the major cities of the Netherlands.
Throughout the war, they always seemed to have enough to eat, although lamented the
fact that there were few luxuries. With their excess food, many of the families were able
to trade for the items they needed, often allowing them to avoid a tainted reputation by
participating in the black market. The ability to trade for items such as clothes and soap,
as well as the availability of protein, meant that malnutrition was less likely, and
therefore, harmful diseases were infrequent. It appears as if these individuals lived a far
less stress filled life than those who lived in the cities. Even the outright hatred for the
Germans that was very prevalent in the cities was not as pronounced in rural areas.
The value of examining this different life during the war is that it helps make
sense of the people who came to Canada, what they did when they first arrived, and what
40
contribution they made to Canada, especially in agriculture. These immigrants have
helped shape society in different ways, as Frans Schryer has highlighted in many of his
books. There is still more, however, to learn about the Dutch immigrants who came by
the thousands to southern Ontario in the years after the war, as the sample size used for
this paper only represent a very small percentage of people who came to Canada.
Regardless of sample size, this paper has shown that the experiences of rural
inhabitants in the Netherlands were much different than those of urban dwellers. That is
not to say that there was no lasting impact for these individuals. This paper has shown
that the war affected them in a very different way. The struggle for rural residents did not
generally revolve around hunger, disease, and death. The impact on rural citizens seemed
to come after the war, via mass migration out of the Netherlands. The war experience
continues to be a major milestone in the lives of those interviewed for this project as can
be seen in their yearly celebrations of the liberation of the Netherlands. Their willingness
to participate in this study also shows their desire to see their stories live on, to educate
and influence an entirely new generation of Canadians of Dutch descent.
The war
provided insight into who these people were, their cultural identity, and how their
experiences have shaped their lives in Canada.
This paper exposes the one sided historical narrative that is present in the
literature in English about the Netherlands during World War Two. The stories told by
these six Dutch immigrants helps provide a broader picture of war experiences in the
Netherlands. It also provides insight into the lives of the Dutch immigrants who made
Canada their home.
Hopefully, this paper acts as a stepping stone for further
investigation of the experiences of the Dutch during World War Two. Perhaps more
41
Dutch immigrants to Canada will recognize the value of their life and the importance it
had on shaping Canada, and perhaps will be more willing to discuss their war experience
or write about it in personal memoirs. As Henk Van Giessen pointed to me: “It is a lot of
experiences that you will never forget. Things before the war and after the war, even my
first 10 years in Canada. You seem to forget things, but the war is something that stays in
your mind.”
42
Appendix A
Questions for Interviews
Daily Life
1. When were you born?
2. What can you remember of life before the war?
a. Where did you live?
b. How did your family make a living?
c. Did you attend school?
3. Do you remember what life was like when the Nazi’s arrived in the
Netherlands?
4. What can you tell me about German Occupation?
a. Was there enough food for you and your family?
i. How did your family cope with the aftermath of the Hunger
Winter?
b. Were you still able to attend school?
c. Were you able to go out shopping?
d. Did you know about the underground black market for specific goods?
i. What can you tell me about the underground market?
ii. Did your family participate in it?
During the War
1. What events can you remember from the war?
2. What was your primary way of receiving news?
a. Newspapers?
b. Radios?
c. Local officials?
d. Nazis?
3. Can you recall anything of the resistance movement?
a. Was your family actively involved in the resistance movement?
4. Do you remember anyone being sent away to Germany or Poland to work in
occupation camps?
5. What do you remember of the period of liberation?
43
Attitudes to War, Occupation, and Liberation
1. What can you tell me about how individuals felt about German occupation?
a. Were people surprised that the Netherlands fell so quickly, or was it
expected?
2. How did people feel about the Dutch Royal family? Did they do an adequate
job alerting citizens of the German attack.
a. How did people react to the Dutch Royal Family leaving the
Netherlands to live in Britain?
3. What was the general feeling during occupation?
a. Worried?
b. Hopeful?
Post-War
1. Did the war have an effect on you in anyway? If so, in what way?
a. Are you open to talking about your experiences during the war?
b. Does it still bother you to think about it?
2. What made your family decide to move to Canada?
a. Where did you move?
b. Why did you move?
c. How did you get to Canada? Where you sponsored?
i. Did you receive sponsorship through the Christian Reformed
Church of Canada?
d. What occupation did your family take up in Canada?
e. Do you know why your family chose Canada over other popular
destinations such as Australia and South Africa?
3. Do you know if Canada was a popular destination of choice for many Dutch
immigrants?
4. Looking back on the situation now, are you happy with your family’s decision
to leave the Netherlands and to come to Canada?
a. Have you considered moving back? If not, what keeps you here?
b. Do you still have family in the Netherlands?
i. Why or why did they not leave the Netherlands after WWII?
44
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47
VITA AUCTORIS
NAME:
Adam Roffel
PLACE OFBIRTH:
Chatham, ON
YEAR OF BIRTH:
1988
EDUCATION:
Chatham Christian High School, Chatham, ON, 2006
University of Windsor, B.A. [H]., Windsor, ON, 2011
University of Windsor, M.A. [H], Windsor, ON, 2014